#cat-n-rabbit

"Wh--?"

That was all Kzinssie managed, just two letters, before her snowball struck him square in the face, an impact which forced him backward. His foot caught on a rock buried beneath the snow, and down he went, tumbling head over heels, accumulating more snow with each roll.

:: ::                      At first, Kzinssie wondered if he had fallen ill without noticing. But no-- his reflection in the mirror had assured him he was still the same normal, healthy levels of sickly pale, and he felt no colder than usual. That ruled out illness, didn't it?

      So why was Rabbit hovering around him like this? Even if he was dying, it wasn't as though that would keep him down for long. She should know this much. If anything, it seemed far more likely that Cat would be the one to end him, should she happen to catch the two of them together in here at this hour... (Woe... When would his sword come back...??)

      "Not that I don't appreciate the company..." he started, straightening from his seat and reaching out a hand to stop her should she attempt to fuss or offer him something else unnecessary. "But it's almost midnight. Don't you want to… I don't know, sleep?"

      He rose from the chair, striding across the room to throw back the closed curtains with an unnecessarily theatrical swoosh. Moonlight poured in and overhead hung the roundest moon he'd seen in ages, luminous, proud against the dark sky. For all his fondness for candlelight-- all dramatic shadows which framed him perfectly as the fearsome, gothic lord of death he knew himself to be-- even Kzinssie had to admit there was a certain, natural charm to the moon.

      "See? It's nice out," he said, glancing over his shoulder at her, his voice lighter, coaxing. A faint pang of pity stirred in him-- pity for her, staying cooped up in here with him of all people. "If you can't sleep, why not go for a walk?"

Cat turns Kzinssie's face at her - "That can't be him!" She doesn't remember him looking like this...! Rabbit is unsure, "He does look pretty heroic, doesn't he?"

:: ::                 "Y o u l o s e , K z i n s s i e."

      That scathing declaration had haunted him since the moment he first regained consciousness-- hanging over him like Damocles' sword, a barb that sliced yet deeper than any other physical demise he had yet endured-- Even the pointy end of Dantarg's lance had nothing on those words.

      The Emperor's son... had not only turned his own technique against him, but had also bested and killed him. It made no sense...

     His senses drifted back one by one, and though he registered the touch of dexterous, feminine fingers against his face (an uncommon touch, despite Kzinssie's almost inhuman levels of natural manly charm), only that smug expression consumed his thoughts.

                 "Y o u l o s e , K z i n s s i e."

      He'd been thrashed... So... How much time had passed? How many years had slipped by? His head throbbed painfully... Where were the others? Where was he? The ground felt soft and loamy beneath, and the air smelled of daylight... This was not their dimension... He was...

      "Huh...?"

      Kzinssie blinked, blinked again, and once more as his mind struggled to align with what his eyes saw. Not one, but two cute girls loomed over him--definitely an unusual scenario, more than enough to snap him out from his sorry reverie. Now completely alert, Kzinssie jerked out of the blonde girl's hands and scurried backwards across the grass like a crab.

He was headed out the door to deliver more presents, until finding one for him at the doorstep. ...One for him, though? That was a pleasant surprise. Picking it up and placing it on the table, he began to inspect it. It was quite well-wrapped and with a nice gold ribbon, too... in a cat-ear-shaped bow, no less. He then glanced over the note on it, which read, "This year you are on Santa Claws' Nice List!"

"'Santa Claws' Nice List', eh?" he chuckled inwardly at the thought. How thoughtful of Cat, giving him a present. After carefully opening the box, it revealed a beautifully... hand-stitched evergreen winter scarf embroidered with his favorite fruit, with colors contrasting well to his normal bevy of red and white.

Was it perfectly done? No - but it didn't need to be. It was from a friend - that's the part that mattered. He did do a little mending where there were a few little loose strands, but only so nothing would catch on the scarf.

Ha. Haha. He'd gotten out of helping! A brilliant victory, really. This whole situation was a mess anyway. They should just leave the houses buried under snow. The lucky survivors would dig their way out eventually, right?

Kzinssie leaned against the wall, watching smugly as Rabbit's hand fell from his hair. But then… there was a pang. He watched her straighten, pick up the shovel again, and there it was--another pang.

What was that? Guilt? No, surely not. He was Lord Kzinssie, far beyond such petty, mortal feelings. Yes. He had long evolved past those.

Then she mentioned Noel.

Noel. That do-gooder wouldn’t hesitate to take on the task of clearing the entire town. But-- LORD Noel!?

That final pang hit like a hammer, sending Kzinssie's supposed injuries-- and his pride-- flying out the window. His miraculous recovery was instantaneous as he sprang to his feet, suddenly charged with energy.

"Wait, wait, wait! We shouldn't bother Noel," he blurted, a note of mild panic as he hurried after her. "You know he's busy with, uh, brooding and all that other stuff!"

He walked backward beside her, his expression somewhere between desperate and determined, arms gesturing wildly. "A-and you know what, I suddenly feel a lot better-- It's a Christmas Miracle™!" he punctuated this with an overly dramatic flex of his many imaginary muscles.

"And what with all this holiday spirit in the air, I'm suddenly feeling pretty generous," he clasped his hands behind his head in a show of exaggerated nonchalance. "So, I gueeesss I can lend my strength to clearing some snow."

Anything to avoid Noel taking the credit. And maybe, anything to make her smile at him again wait what.

:: KABEDON :: accepting from @cat-n-rabbit

He had tried to slip away as discreetly as possible the moment he realized just how deeply the snow had buried everything. Rabbit and her trusty shovel seemed to have things handled, after all… Sooo, Kzinssie reasoned, he'd only be in the way!

Unfortunately, in his haste to retreat, he'd completely forgotten one very important detail: snow left footprints.

And now, there she was, standing before him, shovel exchanged for pinning him between her arms against the wall. Fixing him there with those big sparkling doe eyes. She was too close, he was trapped. He was trapped.

"Uhh… Well, you know I totally would, Bunny, but--"

Desperation overtook him. He clutched his side suddenly, doubling over with an exaggerated cringe, and slid dramatically down the wall like a marionette with its strings cut. "I-I think I broke my liver in the impact," he groaned, voice quavering with 'agony'. "Ow, augh. And-- and I've lost a lot of blood. Aughhhh." His head lolled to the side, overplayed suffering.

"I need to-- ah-- go sit down in a really warm lodge. Right away. Life or death situation, you understand…"

:: KABEDON :: accepting from @cat-n-rabbit

Okay. Well. He knew this moment was coming sooner or later. Cat had been sprinkling those sharp little barbs his way ever since he showed up in this place. Fortunately, Rabbit had danced obliviously past every single one so far, and Kzinssie was really hoping to keep it that way.

His eyes flicked quickly between her fist, where it rested at the wall, and her glaring face. For a moment, a flicker of panic darted across his features-- but it quickly tempered, smoothing into something far more controlled. And then, like a switch, he smirked, the curve of his lips sharp enough to draw blood.

"Can't say I know what you're talking about~." His eyes darkened, the smirk widening as he ducked smoothly under her arm. Straightening at her side, he clasped his hands behind his back, posture the perfect picture of feigned innocence.

"What did I do, hmm?" all mock curiosity. "Are you talking about that time I defeated the termites singlehandedly, withthehelpofsixotherpeople? Yeah, I did that. But that was no game."

(It was a game. It was called Romancing Saga.)